The Seal of Fate
by Strawberry Blase
Summary: You have no right to use Fate. You used it to kill your own sister. If the gods strike you, I assure you, I’ll watch you burn with vengeance...


**A/N:** Hey! This is another attempt at a spirited away story. I hope it comes out okay since I spent hours dwelling on just how I would write it. Please read and review. All comments are allowed, but I won't tolerate flames. Flames are for ignorant people. :) I'll try to update every weekend.

**Disclamer:** I don't own Spirited Away. Miyazaki does, and he's the best ever. Period.

**Chapter One**

Chihiro _hated_ romantic novels.

For an eternity she had pillaged the library, attempting to acquire the perfect fiction novel. Unfortunately she had forgotten all about closing time. The librarian, losing her last string of impatience, had kicked her out with whatever book she happened to have in her hands.

And that book happened to be—

"_Chilly Romance_?"

Her father's voice quivered with laughter, furthering her embarrassment. To make matters worse, they'd stopped at a gas station, which would allow him plenty of time to taunt her. She sighed and covered the book with her jacket sleeve.

"The librarian kicked me out, so I had to pick out something." She responded, trying her best to keep her voice even. "So it wasn't my fault."

Her father just sniggered, jerked a few crumpled bills from his pocket, and placed them in her hands. Stepping out of the car with some difficulty due to his weight, he smiled, "_Chilly Romance_, what kind of book title is that? Take that money and go pay for the gas."

Trying to suppress a groan, the fifteen year old tossed the blasted novel in the backseat and rigidly stepped out of car. She instantly regretted asking her dad to pick her up. Though she and her mother were not on the best terms, she'd rather cope with an icy silence than her dad's jovial laughter. It seemed like her dad found any and everything to tease her about…including boys…and that was one of the reasons she'd refused to accept a ride from Hishiro. Now she regretted it.

The evil taunting episodes had all began when her dad had found out about Hishiro. Chihiro had tried to keep her boyfriend as secretive as a secret could possibly be, but unfortunately, her father had found out anyway… and in the worst way possible. He'd caught her and Hishiro kissing.

The kiss wasn't pleasant at all…it was wet and sloppy, and Hishiro's lips were dry and flaked. The only way she had known that her father was watching was because she had kept her eyes open during the entire affair. That was how horrible it was…

She had broken the kiss two seconds too late. Instead of being ready to beat Hishiro to a pulp, her dad had howled in laughter, his big belly heaving to his jerky motions.

That had to be the most humiliating moment in her life. And as she mentally relived the embarrassment, she admitted that she would've much rather had Hishiro be beat up.

Really…her father was beginning to make her sick. And her mother was no help.

Chihiro trailed silently over to the counter, where the cashier had his face hidden behind the cover of a very glossy magazine. The girl had the sudden urge to laugh. The cashier was reading the shiny tabloid upside down, leafing through the pages as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. She swallowed drily and slid the crumpled bills over to him. "Excuse me…"

The cashier stiffened, pausing in mid-leaf. He lowered the magazine and Chihiro nearly choked as a slithers of the most vibrant green eyes she'd ever seen revealed themselves.

"Yeah?" He asked pointedly. Without lowering his article of interest in further, his eyes darted over to the money she was holding loosely in her fingers. "What's this for? You didn't buy anything."

Chihiro stared at him. She could not see the rest of his face…only the top of his apparently green hair and his even brighter jade eyes. "Ano…"

"Yeah??" The rudeness in his voice escalated.

"Sorry!" She managed to tear out of her temporary trance. "My dad, he's um, getting gas. Pump twelve, twenty dollars."

Without blinking, the boy snapped his magazine shut, and Chihiro found it hard to breathe again. His eyes were like poetry…they held so much, so large, yet softly aloof, and perhaps even pained. Readable, and at the same time, unreadable…his hair was short and wild, thrusting out in odd and different areas as if scissors had had a feast on his head.

"Hey."

"Nani?" Chihiro blinked fervently, realizing that she had been staring at him for a full six seconds in a motionless trance.

The boy's features hardened as if he'd grown annoyed. "I have a customer waiting in line." He said saltily, nodding to a heavy set man who had appeared behind her.

Embarrassment piquing, Chihiro took a step backwards and ended up ramming into said customer. "S-sorry!!"

The man grunted before shoving her off of him, nearly knocking her into a candy rack.

"Watch where you're going next time."

Chihiro shakily straightened herself. "Sorry…" She repeated dejectedly.

The man hissed and set two giant containers of beer in front of the green-eyed cashier.

"Can I see some ID?"

--

When Chihiro returned home that night she felt as if she'd lived two days without sleep. Somewhere between her father's perpetual teasing, her body had slumped into a swamp of lethargy, and all she wanted to do was sleep.

The day couldn't have gone any wrong.

First her language teacher had assigned the most vigorous book report for Christmas break, and then everyone in the entire school found out that she was going out with Hishiro. After that, someone had flipped the lock on her locker and it had taken her all afternoon just to get it right side up. After finally opening the damnable box of metal, she had discovered a plethora of hate mail piled two feet high at the bottom of her locker…_and _by the time she had finished clearing the mess, her school bus was already halfway down the road.

It didn't stop there. To her horror, she found out that the library would be closing for the rest of the Christmas vacation, so she had to run all the way there and barely made it before closing time. She hadn't had time to get a proper look down, and that's how she got stuck with the stupid _Chilly Romance_ novel. And she hated romantic novels, period.

She heaved an enormous sigh and unpacked what little things she had been able to gather from her locker, _Chilly Romance_ included in the mesh. She flipped out her cell phone and checked her text messages. Hishiro had sent her ten text messages, mainly mushy blather, and she deleted them all without even checking them. She then turned off her cell phone and set it at the end of her bed.

Chihiro really didn't like Hishiro that much. Hey may have been the most desired male in the school…but the guy was basically a useless jock. She still did not understand why she went out with him, or even what he wanted from her. She was just an ordinary girl. Ordinary grey eyes and ordinary brown hair.

Her mind trailed back to the boy at the convenience store, and she instantly felt sick with embarrassment. However, shrugged evasively…she'd probably never see him again anyway, but there was just something that was so unnerving about him…she shivered. He was fairly good looking, but his eyes took the cake. That was the only thing she remembered clearly about him. His eyes.

Thrusting all of her useless junk aside, she plopped on her bed and psyched herself up to read the first chapter of _Chilly Romance_.

The front of the small paperback was colored in an exotic magenta, with a faded picture of two classic looking couples kissing. The letters were in shiny gold cursive, looping all the way across the front of the novel.

"_Chilly Romance_." The girl hissed. "It doesn't even have snow on the front."

She folded the cover, flipped about three pages, and began to read the first chapter.

"Chapter One," She read aloud, just to entertain herself, "They were the usual dreams. Our faces were inches apart of course; and there was that second long lag in-between that we stalled, drinking in the surrealism of the moment. Before I could comprehend what was happening, our lips were pressed tightly against each others, and the kiss was so real that I could feel his softness in my dreams. On those nights I always awaken with a slight part to my lips...however, that was only if the dream became broken before we could finish…"

Growing bored, Chihiro flipped through the novel, but stopped when she saw something sparkly wedged into between the middle of the faded pages. She sat up and narrowed her eyes. How could she not have noticed something like that before? Hastily turning back a few pages, she opened the book and was surprised to see that the sparkly object was none other than a glittering magenta hair tie. She pulled it warily, holding it between her thumb and forefinger.

It was quite ordinary, although it looked almost as if it had never been used. She stared at it. There was something strange about it…something she could not identify…but she was too tired and grossed out by the book to even consider what it could be. Well, might as well make it useful.

The girl set the novel on her nightstand, and before clicking her lamp off, she twisted the hair tie around her hair so that it hung in a limp ponytail.

"I'll read the rest tomorrow…" She mumbled, falling onto her pillow.


End file.
